Log the payload of matched rules

The WAF allows you to log the request information that triggered a specific rule of a managed ruleset. This information is known as the payload. Payload information includes the specific string that triggered the rule, along with the text that appears immediately before and after the match.

Payload logging is especially useful when diagnosing the behavior of WAF rules. Since the values that triggered a rule may contain sensitive data, they are encrypted with a customer-provided public key so that only you can examine them later.

Each managed ruleset has its own payload logging configuration. To turn on payload logging, configure a public key to encrypt the logged payload by doing one of the following:

• Generate a key pair directly in the Cloudflare dashboard
• Use your own public key

Once enabled, the WAF saves the payload of rule matches for the managed ruleset configured with payload logging, encrypting the payload with your public key. If multiple rules checking the same request field match (for example, for the field http.cookie), the logged payload for that field will refer to the last matched rule.

For more information, refer to Configure payload logging in the dashboard or Configure payload logging via API.

To view the content of the payload in clear text, do one of the following:

• In the Security Events page, enter your private key to decrypt the payload of a log entry directly in the browser. Refer to View the payload content in the dashboard for details.

• Decrypt the payload in the command line using the matched-data-cli tool. Refer to Decrypt the payload content in the command line for details.

• Decrypt the matched payload in your Logpush job using a Worker before storing the logs in your SIEM system. Refer to Store decrypted matched payloads in logs for details.

Only users with the Super Administrator role can enable payload logging or edit the payload logging configuration.